Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 081 44 01 66;
www.museoarcheologiconazionale.campaniabeniculturali.it
;
Piazza
Museo Nazionale 19; admission €6.50; 9am-7.30pm Wed-Mon; Museo, Piazza Ca-
vour)
Boasting many of the best mosaics and frescoes from Pompeii and Herculaneum, as
well as priceless classical sculptures like the mighty
Toro Farnese
(Farnese Bull), the Na-
tional Archaeological Museum is utterly unmissable. Before tackling the four floors of
galleries, consider investing €12 on the
National Archaeological Museum of Naples
, pub-
lished by Electa, or, to concentrate on the highlights, €5 for an audioguide in English.
Originally a cavalry barracks, the museum was established by the Bourbon king
Charles VII in the late 18th century to house the rich collection of antiquities he had in-
herited from his mother, Elisabetta Farnese.
While the basement houses the Borgia collection of Egyptian relics and epigraphs, the
ground-floor Farnese collection of colossal Greek and Roman sculptures includes the
Toro Farnese
(Farnese Bull) in Room XVI and the muscle-bound
Ercole
(Hercules) in
Room XI. Sculpted in the early 3rd century AD and noted in the writings of Pliny, the
Toro Farnese
, probably a Roman copy of a Greek original, depicts the death of Dirce,
Queen of Thebes. According to Greek mythology she was tied to a wild bull by Zeto and
Amphion as punishment for her treatment of their mother Antiope, the first wife of King
Lykos of Thebes. Carved from a single colossal block of marble, the sculpture was dis-
covered in 1545 near the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and was restored by Michelangelo,
before eventually being shipped to Naples in 1787.
Ercole
was discovered in the same Roman dig and like the
Toro Farnese
remained in
Rome until 1787. Originally without legs,
Ercole
had a new pair made for him by
Guglielmo della Porta. In fact, the story goes that the Farnese were so impressed with
della Porta's work that they refused to reinstate the original legs when they were subse-
quently found. The Bourbons, however, had no such qualms and later attached the origin-
als in their rightful place. You can see the della Porta legs displayed on the wall behind
Ercole
.
If you're short on time, take in both these masterpieces before heading straight to the
mezzanine floor, home to an exquisite collection of Pompeian mosaics. Of the series taken
from the Casa del Fauno, it is
La battaglia di Alessandro Contro Dario
(The Battle of Al-
exander Against Darius) in Room LXI that stands out. The best-known depiction of Alex-
ander the Great, the 20-sq-metre mosaic was probably made by Alexandrian craftsmen
working in Italy around the end of the 2nd century BC. In room LIX, look out for the
amusing
Scene di commedia: musici ambulanti
(Comedy Scene: Street Musicians), which
portrays a motley group of roving performers. Other outstanding mosaics include one of a
feline killing a duck in Room LX and a study of Nile animals in Room LXIII.
